Index Archive

09 December 2015

India 25 Million toilets are stolen built using tax payer’s moneyComptroller & Auditor General of India in its report submitted to Parliament indicated that there are about 250 lakh toilets built from public funds but possibly, only on paper.

The CAG report cited the Census 2011 report to put the number of rural households with a toilet in the premises at 515 lakhs. But according to the government’s records, it had funded construction of 768 lakh toilets under various schemes up to 2011.

Uttar Pradesh, according to the census, had 5545881 rural households with toilets in 2011. But according to the ministry of drinking water and sanitation, the state had built 15107255 toilets in rural homes under its schemes. As against UP’s 172% excess toilets built over the census numbers, Jharkhand stood at a whopping 326%, Madhya Pradesh at 277%, Chhattisgarh at 183%, Odisha at 199%, Tamil Nadu at 190% and Gujarat stood at 81%.

It turns out the Centre ended up funding more houses to build a toilet than the total number of households recorded during the census. Incidentally, the Centre did not seem to question the CAG’s findings and accepted its observations.